James 'Vell' Rives Enters Race For Seat On Arlington School Board

ARLINGTON, VA — A Fairlington psychiatrist is running for the Arlington School Board and already has enough signatures to qualify to be on the ballot for the general election on Nov. 8.

James “Vell” Rives, who serves as co-chair of Arlington Public Schools’ School Health Advisory Board, is running as an independent and will not be seeking the Democratic Party's endorsement for the election.

Rives and his wife Carmen have been Fairlington residents since 2003, and their children attend Wakefield High School and Claremont Elementary School.

As a board-certified psychiatrist in Northern Virginia, Rives said his perspective as a physician and mental health professional is needed on the school board, especially as schools recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future challenges.

Rives is also an assistant chief county election officer, often working at the Abingdon Elementary precinct. He will be recused from working the polls this election cycle, though.

The general election for the Arlington School Board opening is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

At an April 6 meeting of the Arlington County Democratic Committee, Bethany Sutton, chair of the Arlington Public Schools Advisory Council on Teaching and Learning, and Brandon Clark, a teacher in the county school system, announced their intention to seek the school board endorsement.

Like Rives, Clark is a resident of Fairlington and has already collected enough signatures to appear on the November ballot. He is a Wakefield High School graduate and currently teaches geography at Gunston Middle School, where his wife is a math coach.

Arlington Democrats have set aside four days in June for residents to vote on which candidate will receive the party's endorsement for school board. The candidates are seeking to fill the seat held by Barbara Kanninen, who currently serves as chair of the Arlington School Board but opted against running for a third four-year term on the board.

Candidates have until Wednesday to announce plans to seek the Democratic Party's endorsement.

Unlike previous years, the Democratic Party is not seeking a commitment from candidates in the school board endorsement process that they will not participate in the general election in November if they do not win the party's endorsement.

Arlington County's deadline for getting the required number of signatures to appear on the November ballot is June 21.

RELATED: Bethany Sutton Launches Campaign For Arlington School Board